By conducting a combined microscopy, spectroscopy, and computational study of one-atom-thick films of silicon, European researchers have gathered what they describe as “compelling experimental evidence” that they have succeeded in preparing the Si analog of graphene (Phys. Rev. Lett., DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev​Lett.108.155501). Dubbed silicene because of its predicted graphenelike structural and electronic properties, the ultrathin 2-D form of silicon is expected to be inherently more compatible with . . .